The Wii U has finally arrived. Now that the first reviews are trickling in, we want to explore what the first crop of games tell us about the Wii U’s potential as a hardcore and mainstream gaming platform.

We here at the Shelf decided that there was no better way to ring in 2011 than by compiling a list (A list at the end of the year?! What a concept!) of our favourite games of 2010. In an industry regularly dominated by triple A titles and billion dollar publishers, this past year proved to be a breakthrough of sorts for indie gaming. This is not to say that there weren't great blockbuster games this year - there were plenty - or that indie games weren't a forced to be reckoned with in years past. 2010 merely showed us all that good games are good games, period.

Warren Spector’s crack at the Mickey mythos is as interesting as it is weird in his anticipated and ambitious take on the mouse, Epic Mickey. It’s a strange direction for both the cherished cartoon and the respected designer, but it’s clear that the two forces have found a comfortable middle ground for creation. Be that as it may, is Epic Mickey as successful as its starry eyes wish for?

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. (which was released way back on September 15, 1985, making this just shy of three months late, if you care), Nintendo has re-released Super Mario All-Stars for the Nintendo Wii, in a lavish limited edition, 2-disc package.

In the past, Kirby has tilted and tumbled, pinballed, air rode and whatever the heck dream coursing is. To say Kirby has gone under some heavy reimagining for a new title isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, as history shows that almost every other cute little entry in the series is off the beaten path. The pink, fluffy whatsit is as flexible as he is collapsible. So how does a franchise with a history of reinvention, reinvent itself? Well, the folks at HAL cleverly decided to attack the problem at its roots with Kirby's Epic Yarn, reassembling Kirby’s platforming origins with a radically different approach and changing nearly everything except how ungodly adorable it is. Is this newly knit creation a gorgeous weave? Or will it unravel and alienate fans?

At last month’s Nintendo Holiday Preview event, we got to try out the final build of Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. At the beginning of our play session, we had 47 lives. By the end of it, we had a big fat Game Over.

Shaun White and Ubisoft have made a favourable pairing in the past, as both the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 and separate Wii versions of Shaun White Snowboarding received mostly positive reviews last year. Past success bodes well for the upcoming Shaun White Skateboarding, and the PS3 version was playable at the Sony Holiday Preview Event in Toronto earlier this week.

Disney Interactive recently unveiled the intro cinematic for the upcoming Epic Mickey video game. The game is being developed by respected game designer Warren Spector (Sytem Shock, Deus Ex) and his Junction Point Studios. Epic Mickey puts the player in the role of Disney’s most famous creation: Mickey Mouse. Everyone’s favourite cartoon rodent is thrust […]

Last time I reviewed Metro 2033, a Ukrainian made glimpse into the nuclear fallout and submerged societies. This time I’m looking at Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, a Japanese glimpse at a young boy traversing a barren world and decrepit undergrounds. While both are atmospheric adventures across a haunted wasteland, only one can […]

Looking for a game where bloody assassin massacres and cutesy kitten playtime are equal priorities? No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is one of the biggest, and strangest, releases for the Nintendo Wii in the first quarter of 2010. Its predecessor No More Heroes won critical acclaim back in 2008 for its adult themes and […]

Don’t let ME to tell you kids what to like, with your Robert Pattinsons, your iTwitp3pods, and your rock ‘n’ roll noise music, but years before New Super Mario Bros. Wii there was a game called Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo. Now that you’re up to date on decades of fiddling with a Super […]

Zack Kotzer of the arts and culture zine Steel Bananas joins us for a guest review of the Wii sidescroller Muramasa: The Demon Blade. It’s hibernation over the summer worried Wii owners, but creative third party titles have once again awaken and shall reward the brave open minded enough to try them. I was ntroduced […]

Bit.Trip Core, the second in Gaijin Games’ Bit.Trip series, is a rhythm game recently released for the Wii. It combines the scrolling notes of Guitar Hero and old-school twitch action games to great effect, presenting a challenging game in a fresh-yet-retro style. Each song is represented by many fast moving blocks that fly across the […]

Day Two of the Electronic Entertainment Expo is in full swing. Today saw Nintendo and Sony hold their annual E3 Press Conferences, and it was a big day for both companies. There were some huge game announcements, new footage from hotly anticipated games and new hardware unveiled by both Nintendo and Sony. Read Dork Shelf’s […]

The Electronic Entertainment Expo—E3 kicked off with a bang in Los Angeles today. Microsoft got the ball rolling with their press conference this morning, and they did not disappoint. There were major game and peripheral announcements aplenty, as well as first looks and gameplay demonstrations for many sequels. Check out all the highlights after the […]

With high definition gaming from Nintendo looking increasingly unlikely in this current console generation, some intrepid designers have created a work around. The Wii and GameCube emulator Dolphin allows users to play legally (or illegally) copied Wii and GameCube games on their PC’s. Although you need some pretty hefty hardware to emulate the games well, Dolphin […]

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[Editor’s Note: If you’ll recall from the last Eisner Review, Heather’s completion of the Eisner Watch series was cruelly delayed because of jury duty. This is the last of the series, focusing on the 2015 Best New Series winner, Lumberjanes.] Have you ever been to summer camp? Have you ever had a group of friends […]